As the president vacillates between a sanctions-based approach that presses North Korea’s allies to do more and threats to take down the Kim Jong Un government along with its nuclear and missile programs, some top Democrats want Trump and his team to settle on a consistent strategy. But it appears there is little they can do to bring that about.

OCT. 19, 2016: Ruben Kihuen, then a Democratic candidate for Nevada’s 4th District, shakes hands with demonstrators in front of the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas during the Culinary Union’s Wall of Taco Trucks protest — the day of the final presidential debate. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Every two years, a new crop of freshmen descends on Washington and every two years, Roll Call follows one such member through their first year.

For the 2016 election, Nevada Rep. Ruben Kihuen was one of only several Democrats to unseat a House Republican. His story is similar to those of millions of Americans — his family came to the U.S. seeking a better life — but on Nov. 8, 2016, he became the first formerly undocumented person to be elected to Congress (along with New York Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who was elected the same day). Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Kihuen’s dreams of playing professional soccer were dashed by an untimely injury. It was then that he turned his attention to politics.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking minority member on the House Intelligence Committee, said while the amount spent on the ads in question is relatively small, millions of people were exposed to them. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Schiff made the statement on CNN after Facebook executives told congressional investigators Wednesday that it discovered it had sold about $100,000 worth of ads to a Russian entity with a history of spreading pro-Russian propaganda, which was first reported by the Washington Post.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., said Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee did not consult Democratic members before issuing subpoenas for the FBI and Justice Department. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Rep. Adam B. Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, accused Republicans on the committee of trying to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Hundreds of immigration advocates and supporters attend a rally and march to Trump Tower in New York to support the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, last week. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump’s reported decision to end an Obama-era immigration program that protects 800,000 undocumented young people from deportation adds to a lengthy to-do list already challenging Republican leaders.

Politico and The Associated Press, citing unnamed sources, reported late Sunday that Trump plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, in six months. The sources were granted anonymity to speak freely ahead of Tuesday’s planned announcement. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is expected to address the DACA program at an 11 a.m. briefing and will take no questions.

President Donald Trump has delegated much of the troop deployment details on Afghanistan to Defense Secretary James Mattis and the Pentagon. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

In a speech to the nation on Aug. 21, President Donald Trump issued a clarion call on Afghanistan, effectively asking Americans to indefinitely extend their longest war at untold additional cost in lives and money. But he declined to say how many of America’s sons and daughters he plans to deploy there.

Trump did not quantify the military deployment even though it has been widely reported that he has already authorized the Pentagon to augment its nearly 8,500 strong force in Afghanistan with almost 4,000 additional service members. The first of the extra troops could arrive within days or weeks, and those numbers could grow depending on conditions in Afghanistan, officials have said.

An engraving of President James A. Garfield’s assassination. Not since Garfield has a sitting House member so much as won an electoral vote in a presidential election. (Engraving from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper)

No sitting House member has won an electoral vote for president since 1880, when Ohio’s James A. Garfield captured the White House — and he didn’t even mean to run for the job.

In fact, the Ohio legislature had just voted to appoint Garfield to a Senate term — for which he would have been seated in March 1881 — when the GOP met in Chicago to pick its nominee for the presidency in the summer of 1880.

Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain says no able service member should be forced to leave the military. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

President Donald Trump’s announcement Wednesday morning on Twitter that he will bar transgender people from serving in the military brings to a boil a previously simmering congressional debate.

Critics of Trump’s proposal have already vowed to fight back hard, and the battle will be joined promptly. It will start in the next 24 hours or so during House debate on security spending legislation.

Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., accused Iran, Russia and North Korea of seeking to undermine the United States after the House passed a bill Tuesday aimed at imposing sanctions on the three nations. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

A bill aimed at imposing sanctions on Iran, Russia and North Korea passed the House 419-3 Tuesday after being held up by technical delays for weeks. But its fate in the Senate remains unclear.

There was Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, a vocal proponent of the legislation, who was involved in writing it and led the effort to wrangle the necessary votes. The same was true of his fellow GOP leaders present, Sens. John Thune of South Dakota and Roy Blunt of Missouri. All were sure to vote for the bill.